Understanding and Valuing Proverbs

Join Trey Overton, Mavric Herrera, and Sam Beavers as they reflect on Pastor Greg's Sunday sermon, continuing the Bible recap series. The church started reading the Bible chronologically together, and this sermon continued the series that dives deeper into the readings. During this episode, Trey, Mavric, and Sam shared some ways to apply Greg's sermon and use Proverbs to shape our mindsets and create a Biblical worldview. The book of Proverbs is often thought of as being one that is underutilized. The insights found within this book are given by God and can be used in all areas of life. In this episode, Trey, Mavric, and Sam talk about different areas that Proverbs helps believers find wisdom and understanding, such as the increasing prevalence of AI. Join in and reflect with us as we discuss the sermon from First Baptist Church in Fort Smith, AR. 

Mavric Herrera - mherrera@fsfbc.org

Trey Overton - toverton@fsfbc.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Psalm 119.11 says that Scripture is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. That means God gave us His Word to guide and equip us in practical ways as we walk through our everyday lives. Join us now for this episode of From State to Street, as our FBC staff and church members talk about how this week's Sunday morning message comes alive as we walk through the streets and moments of everyday life.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us. My name is Trey Overton, and I'm your host today, along with my good friend Mavic Care. Good morning. Today we have a good friend of ours, and we'll call him an extra special guest, Mr. Sam Beavers. I'll take it. The past couple weeks, we've had we've had Sam on here a couple times, so like I'll spare the introduction, you know, um, jokes, golf, insurance salesman, punter things. Yeah. So Sam, yeah, no, he he he he does a lot of things around the church, and we're real thankful for him. And uh we like bringing him on here because he always brings a lot of good insight. Um, and also he's younger. Um, how old are you, Sam? Twenty-eight. Twenty-eight. So he's still in his twenties, um, not quite as young as Maverick. But uh, so I've got two young people here. I'm not that young. But uh, so I thought, well, let's get a younger person's insight into the sermon this week, right? Um the past coup two weeks, Greg has emphasized, he's been talking about the Proverbs, been going through the book of Proverbs, um, and he's emphasized the importance of Proverbs and pointed to the fact that Proverbs is realistically one of the most underutilized books in the Bible. Um now this was he said the facts according to Greg, but I I mean I would agree. I mean, we don't really we use small, you see small sniff like right there again. Uh with in the reading this morning, we we come across iron sharpens iron. Yes. Where do you see that? You see it everywhere, right? On t-shirts and everything else. So I wouldn't say it's underutilized. Um I I think it's utilized more than we realize, but as believers, do we spend time actually going in and studying the book of Proverbs? You know, I can say personally, no. I mean, uh, I don't think we do. I think sometimes we pull small parts like that out, and then that kind of becomes something that we talk about every now and then. But um, do we really go back and there's just there's I mean, there's nuggets of gold all through this, right? Um, this book challenges and motivates readers to walk in their walks with Christ, and it challenges their perspective on things in life. Um, it's not about knowledge, you know. There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. You know, do you do we know what you know what's the difference between knowledge and wisdom?

SPEAKER_02 2:42

I think knowledge is knowing a bunch of stuff. Wisdom is using stuff.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Wisdom is the application of knowledge, right? Um so by applying the very various insights found within the book of Proverbs, our biblical worldview forms and our walks with Christ are strengthened. Um, we will begin to view all things from a biblical world view. I mean, we were and and and and that's something like you go to seminaries now. I mean, that's a lot of when I was I was just graduated Liberty. Um every before every yeah, I know, right? Um, but before every course, we had to take, you know, they they they you're supposed to go in and watch this um video, and it's like something that Liberty puts on or whatever, and it's like part of an introduction. But the whole thing is that every course that you take is supposed to develop your worldview to be a biblical worldview. I mean, it's uh so that you look at everything, everything that you do in this world, whether it's driving a car, whether it's talking to a friend, whether it's going to a coffee shop, everything you do needs to be done with the the eyes of the Bible, with the with the word of God on your mind, um, and that you look at it through what I mean, essentially through God's eyes is what you're trying to do, right? Um, and I think the book of Proverbs really, as we dive into this, helps us do that. And that's what Greg was talking about. Um, there was a couple things that he talked about in reading the book of Proverbs or Proverbs. Um, he said the buts and the ands, and of course, depending on what version you read, there's fours. Um and you know, the but separates to and provides opposition, and the and is the fruit of that, right? The fruit of that insight. And then there's a directive statement, meaning that you know, this is the truth, and then by this truth, this is the fruit of that, and that's where the and um comes from comes in. Um so he used this and look looking at the books, book of proverbs, and and last week he he started in, I believe the first and second chapter, and he was looking at um a couple different passages. Um, but he used that to talk about AI, which is you know, we could we could sit here and have a whole podcast on just you know AI. Just AI, right? I mean, this is a hot topic right now because it's becoming so popular, so prominent. I mean, so many people are using it for everything. I mean, I use it, you know. I use, you know, like used it last night. My dad, we got a little flat bottom boat and uh a little 25-horse tiller steer, and and I need to go register it. And I was like, what do you need to go register a 16-foot aluminum boat with a 25-horse? Because it's not the same as a bass boat, you know, because it you don't have to get a title for the motor and stuff. So I, anyways, I used AI and I typed it out. The question, I have this, this is my boat. What do I need to register it? And literally, AI pulls out all the information I need from the DMV to go register this thing. Like it's great. It would have taken me weeks of research before now I got in 30 seconds, right? Um government works. And so, and and so I say all that, like AI is is becoming such a big deal and is so prominent. Um But does it really like does it really have a place in studying scripture? Does it really have a place in our walks with Christ? Does it really have a place and Greg talked about it? I mean, I've got I've got friends um and uh people I know who are literally using AI to write their sermons and their lessons. Um what what are your thoughts on that? I mean, what what do you think, and especially looking at it through the eyes of Proverbs?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Well, I th I think it's complex. So to talk about what AI is, we have to talk about what AI is not, um and and we have to have a proper understanding of who we are scripturally. So as a redeemed saint of Jesus Christ, I have the Holy Spirit inside of me. So when we're talking about reading the Bible, uh the Bible's written by the Holy Spirit. There is something that happens, and I I can't explain how it works, but there's something that happens when the spirit inside of me interacts with the spirit that wrote the words and creates what we have with the revelation of God. Um I think it gives you a more proper grounding and understanding. Um AI is gonna give you a lot of good stuff, though. There's there's nothing wrong with it. I use AI in my job. My my job is by nature competitive. If I'm using it and you're not, I have a great competitive advantage over you. I'm going to beat you. And so uh it's not as adversarial when we look at the Bible this way, but uh I think AI can be beneficial for a lot of things. Uh it's it's no different than a commentary if you use it for that, but if you're using it to figure out your entire worldview and your entire view on doctrine and uh to write your sermons, I think that's a problem because you're not allowing God his place in interaction with his word like he should in your life.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

And I think like I think the scary part is that AI could be telling you the truth of the problem. Like, yeah, maybe the thing that it tells you is the solution to the problem that you're facing, or it will give you a really good sermon and it will change lives, you know, whatever. But I think it's more about like where we're getting that wisdom from and are we depending on the Lord in that. And in that, you know, we're going right against the Bible when it says do not lean on your own understanding. Um, even though, you know, this isn't your knowledge that you're you're getting new knowledge, you're doing it by your means instead of by God's means. When he says that I will like he's a God of revelation, you know, and the Lord is gonna give you that revelation in the time that it needs to be, in the manner that it needs to be, and spoken in the way that it needs to be, so that it's properly heard by everybody in the room. And like if you just understand the power of the Spirit of God, uh like you don't want the in the same way. Like it's I think it's the same with our sin and everything like that. Like, if you understand what Jesus gives you, if you understand who he is, it's like I don't want anything else. You know, I don't want the microwave knowledge, I don't want the quick and easy route. I want what Jesus gives me. I want what the Holy Spirit gives me, because what he gives me is just it just pales in comparison whenever you put the two together. Yeah. And so, you know, I I think you're exactly right, Sam. I think it's it's scary because you can get the right answer in a different way. And we've talked about that a lot in in young adults too, of like, it's scary whenever you can get the right answer in the wrong way. I think the means that we do it is very important to God.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Yeah. Well, we also have to be careful, and on the other side, you know, when this is the battle that I go in with myself, is um we've pushed back on every technological advancement that's ever been created as Christians. You can go back and you can find how people thought the printing press was just gonna ruin everything. And the internet is just gonna ruin everything. Well, it didn't. Okay, God's still God. That's still debatable. True. Uh, but I I think there's no one would make the argument that the internet is not beneficial for preparing your knowledge of scripture in some way. I think it definitely has a place. Yeah. I think AI has a place, but we have to understand that the A is artificial, and there's nothing artificial about the Holy Spirit. And like Maverick said, it's a cheap trade-off if we go down that road too many times in the wrong way.

SPEAKER_03 9:57

Yeah, I mean, I th I'm I'm I'm probably more on the cautious end than than that. I I you made the comment, you know, Maverick, that um this generation, we we want things quickly. You know, we want and and the microwave, you know, like and and the reality is is that's what AI produces, right? Um I think uh what and this was before AI, this was before this was when you could before AI was really a thing and you're just Googling things, but um if somebody needed to know something, like let's say me and you are having a conversation, uh maybe we're witnessing to somebody, yeah, and uh something pops in my head about a story or or a passage in Romans, and I'm like, man, where's that passage at? You know, I could I could jump on Google and I could say, hey, you know, I'm a passage where he talks about this, right? Yeah, hits the passage, says this, where's it at? And it pulls it up, Romans, whatever. And AI creates that in a faster means, right? I mean, that's what it does. Um the problem that that has is it it takes away the transformation that happens with scripture, right? When I can go to scripture and I can pull it quickly, you know, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, if if especially if I'm out evangelizing and I just can't think of it and I want to pull it up quickly, like there's nothing wrong with me being able to do that. Um, but when it comes to my personal walk, um and my my un it's not just about knowledge of scripture, it's about my understanding of scripture. You can't fake your transformation process. You can't fake it. Um, your transformation process has to be done through your relationship with Christ, through, through time and meditation of scripture. You know, Joshua says, I will meditate on your word day and night. Um, and and on your law, I will meditate, right? And and so this meditation of scripture, it it has to be done, right? And that's how this transformation process happens. We read the scripture, we meditate on it, we spend time with God. Um AI can't replicate that. Never can, never will be. And so the problem is that when when people are using AI to to just come up with quick answers, the microwave answers, like you said, Maverick, it's like, well, um that's never going to, never can, never will create a transformation within you through scripture. It just can't. Like you can't replicate that, right? Um, and so and so the part the the initial problem with AI lies in that, right? When and it's kind of like what both of you said, yes, we have to understand it has its place because we cannot use it like in your study time. There again, if you want to look something up real quick, you're not you know, sure. But at the same time, before AI, what did it what did looking up something cause you to do? It caused you to study God's word more, right? It made you it it made you logically think like if if I'm trying to think of like if I'm reading a scripture, I'm like, man, there's something else that says that over in Romans. Before AI, I'd have to go through Romans and I'd have to logically think of how Romans is laid out, right? And I'd have to I'd have to think about okay, well, he says this here, this here, so it's gonna be somewhere down in chapter chapter seven, chapter eight. And so I would have to work my way to finding that passage. AI takes that out, and that's where the problem begins with me, right? Because once we start stop taking that out, we stop logically thinking about scripture, we stop thinking about scripture as a whole and the context of it and all of those things, and we lose that. Um, and so that's that's that's where it be I begin to have a problem with it, right? Um the other issue I have is Greg made a point of this, but we don't know, you know, what you got all everything you get from AI is not all true. It's absurdly, you know, yeah. It's pulling from the most popular sources, not necessarily the most accurate, right? Um, and so um the the thing that I have with it though is the videos that you're seeing now. Like you can you can create anything, right? You can create anything out of AI, uh video-wise, and and all of a sudden, like Maverick's over here smoking a J and like and and like it's it's crazy, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Like I'm glad you think that that is crazy for me.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

That's that's a great testimony for well I'm just saying, but but seriously though, like somebody can create this video that never happened and all and it looks real, it looks like Maverick's doing that, right?

SPEAKER_04 14:43

Right.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

Um, and it's creating this thing, you know, obviously it's creating this huge caution within court systems now. Certainly. You know, when when video evidence is submitted of something, something happened, we have this video evidence that something happened. How do we know that this video is real? So now all of a sudden we're in this dilemma and we're gonna be and I I'm I we're not far from it where all of a sudden video evidence is gonna be irrelevant. I and and I mean, am I wrong?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Look, we've we've always figured out ways to mitigate problems with technology, and we always will. It's one of the great things about humans. Cars aren't gonna kill everybody. It's okay to have a vehicle. Um you know, I I you we come up with speed limits. Okay, well, this is a way to mitigate the situation where cars can just take you from point A to point B anywhere, and you're losing the time you're spending on the back of a horse. Oh my gosh, you're just riding past all these beautiful fields. It's gonna mess with your mind. Okay, no, it's not. You're gonna be okay. Um, and I think there's a little bit of a growing process with any technology, and AI is certainly the biggest that we've seen. And uh, you know, well, we're gonna we're assuming that nothing's gonna be created again to fix a problem. We're we're solving future problems with today's technology.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Well, I think there's definitely, but but we're what we're also recognizing caution. I see that that okay, all of a sudden this video looks real. That scares me because how many, you know, how many times is somebody gonna create a message, maybe there's an atheist out there who all of a sudden wants to destroy the church. Well, let's create a video series of a pastor getting up there and giving false messages. It's very possible. You know, and so like we and that's where you know there again comes back to, you know, how much how grounded are you in the words? And that's where a lot of these proverbs, you know, they they really come into play, you know, and that's where that's where when when we're taking AI in context of proverbs, um and really what Greg was going at is like um the proverbs are are it's it's separating knowledge from wisdom, right? You can know all you want to, but how are you applying that and how are you applying that in your own life, right? Are we actually studying God's word? Are we actually um spending time with him? Are we actually doing all those things? And if we are when we recognize those videos, it's not even gonna matter, right? I'm not if I saw uh um video of Maverick sitting here smoking a J, I automatically know that that's not gonna be a thing because I know Maverick, right? And I understand that that's gonna be a false. Like that's like I can instantly look at that video and be like, man, that that didn't happen. And so like all of that is gonna be the case. And I guess that's my point in this is you can't replicate that.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

That's right.

SPEAKER_03 17:26

Um so let's move on just so we don't take too much. We've already took a lot of time on AI. We could literally spend days talking and debating that. Um, but I want to I want to look at the sermon this last week. Uh, we're where uh Greg used Proverbs 3. Um to and he laid out 11 different insights that that shape our perspective and create this biblical uh worldview, right? And um these insights are something that it's not like all inclusive, these are just things that he used. So you could you could this is a really an in an exhaustive list, really, when you look at it. Um but he he just kind of highlighted 11 of them. Um if you were looking at 11, so let's just kind of go over this. He went over just in verse 9 of chapter 3, he looked at work, and and same verse 9, he talked about worship, um, the father's love in verses 11 and 12, studying, learning in verses 13, 14, he looked at um the correct view of wants and desires, long-term thinking, testimony, peace, and the quality of life, budgeting and accounting, um, crisis preparation, and generosity. So those are 11 that he talked about. When he was going through those, which one kind of stuck out to you the most? Um, especially when you just looking at this proverbs and and how it applies to your life, which one kind of hit you on the hit the button on the nose?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Well, first of all, how great to have a pastor that doesn't shy away from talking about personal finances. Right? That's so important. Yeah, I agree. That was that was the biggest thing, is like, great. I'm so glad we're talking about this. You don't get this anywhere. We need a biblical perspective on finances.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

100%.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

I think we can all agree with that. And and there's certain things that we say, you know, the Bible belongs here, it doesn't belong there. Finances are often one that we see that in. Uh so I'm I'm glad we're having the conversation. I I really thought the part about long-term thinking uh hit me pretty hard. And as young people, you know, Mav, we yeah, we we've got a group of young adults that that you work with. And um, how many of those young adults see their life as longer than two years into the future? Maybe not many. And I think we need to do a good job of that. Let's be real honest. The generations that have come before us have not done a very good job there. And I think there's a pretty strong generational divide over that. Um, you know, how does Social Security work? Do I expect to get any of it? No. Is it in my financial plan? Absolutely not. Am I gonna pay for it for the rest of my life? Yes, probably. But um, you know, I don't rely on on the government necessarily for that. The the Bible says I need to have a long-term plan. I need to think into the future. I need to prepare things. I need to have a you need to have an IRA, have a 401k IRA on the side, do all this stuff. Uh, he talked about some Dave Ramsey stuff. That's great. I think that's awesome. I've read all the books. I like it, it's good. Um, you know, let's let's prepare for disasters. He talked about tires on his truck. Do you have enough money saved up to go buy a set of tires if you need them? If you don't, uh thousand dollar emergency fund, at least your debts smallest to largest, let's pay off the debt snowball, and let's move on from there. And and we can build some wealth because the idea is it's not mine, it's God's. I want to be a good steward of it. And also, the Bible says that a wise man passes this on to his to his son.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

And so that long-term thinking is not just long-term in my life, I think it's generational. Right. How do I preserve this so that the next generation of my family um is not is in a better position than I'm in, and then thereafter, I want their kids to be in a better position than they were in. So I th I think that one really stuck out to me.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Yeah. And let's just let's just just quiz because we're talking about Proverbs, let's read the Proverbs where uh where what he's talking about that Greg used. In verse 16 of chapter 3 of Proverbs, it says, Long life is in her right hand, and her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are sorry, her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life. Those who lay a hold of her, those who hold her fast are called blessed. And her is understanding. That's where in a few passages, you know, verses before he's talking, he's talking, her is understanding. Um, so understanding, uh, the ways of understanding are ways of pleasantness, right? But long life is where we're where Greg was talking about we need to be looking long term, and that's not the only verse that that talks about. That's right. Right. That's not the Like this is not a, you know, it there's there's passages all through the Bible that that where we need to be looking long term. I mean, look at the Bible. The Bible is written on the context of you need to be thinking long term, not short term, right? Yeah. You know, I mean, look at I mean this is thousands and thousands. Right, and and people waiting for the Messiah. Like this is all a long-term in-game deal, right? Yeah. And so um, why would our lives and our finances especially not be any different?

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

The one that really stuck out for me was the one that you just read, The Peace and Quality of Life. Uh, but verse 24 where it says, When when you lie down, uh you'll be able to sleep, you know. Um man, sleep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:43

What's that?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

It really didn't like hit me like for a long time when I read it, but Greg and I were talking about it before Sunday, and he was kind of explaining it to me how he was going to say it, because he he really wanted this to be like for young adults because he he believes very strongly that like the beginning in Proverbs 1-1, where it's talking about this is for the young, young person, you know, yeah, growing up, you know, and learning all these things. And so he really wanted to make sure that this made sense to young adults, um, which I really appreciated, which I think it did. I think it was very good. But um the peace and quality of life part, like when you I I didn't understand necessarily what he was directly talking about, and I I thought it was, you know, oh yeah, when you have financial peace and you have all these things, you're able to sleep. When you follow God, you're able to sleep, da da da. Great, you know. But I went he went deeper than that and he was saying, like, well, no, it's not just, you know, you just have this stuff, it's like you're following the ways of the Lord that he's laid out, you know, and when he goes back to the root of Proverbs being uh the the gathered wisdom of people that followed God, you know and this is what they discovered, you know. And so when you think about it like that, you can think that like, oh my goodness, when I am putting these things in place, when I'm putting these cardrails in place, when I'm building the structure in my life, like it really does practically give me that peace. And you know, I just you just tend I don't know what if it's just me or not, but I just like I tend to not think like it's not my instinct to think that God works practically.

SPEAKER_04 24:20

Yeah you know, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Um and that, oh yeah, he's like he's so supernatural that like everything he does is miraculous and crazy, you know, and it can't be explained. It's like no, he also works, you know, practically in my life. Yeah. He sets things up and he does things so that we understand it.

SPEAKER_03 24:35

Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day. Um I like to think, and then just to bounce off your point there, um, I like to think of these, and I was I was studying this for the podcast um and and looking at proverbs and how he kind of talks about how their insights and what exactly a proverb is. And yesterday I was after I got home, I was working on my yard. I mowed the day before, and then yesterday I spent the day weed eating, right? And my whole driveway is rock, and so I have to go through and I have to Yeah, I know, right? And so like I have to go through and I have to um hit weed killer with it pretty frequently. And so it'd been a while since I hit weed killer with it, and of course, with all this rain, grass had been growing all through there. Um, and and this grass is like it's tough to kill with weed killer, man. And the reason is is because it comes up with a pretty strong root, and then the roots when it's on rock, and you may have seen these, but it kind of scatters down the rock, right? They crawl exactly like it crawls down the rock. And that's what kind of when I look at these proverbs, this is kind of what that makes me think like these insights are like the little roots that pick up, right? We have this this foundation in Christ, right? Our main root that comes up through the rocks, and every time that we read a uh uh a proverb, an insight, right, that that is practical, practically used in our life, it's another root that's holding on. Yeah, and and it's just like it creates a uh a which in this case, you know, I'm using this scenario, but it creates a grass that's just like impossible to get rid of. Yeah. Right? Yeah, and that's us. I mean, when we take these bits and pieces, like these insights and these proverbs and these truths, like it creates this thing that's got a foundation that's impossible to shake and get rid of. You can spray a weed killer on it, you can hit a wee killer, but I know in two weeks I'm gonna have to go back and I'm gonna have to get rid of it again. Right. Um and so these when we look at these insights, um, and I I like the one both of y'all made great points there. And and those are ones I I I talked to my son after the after the sermon, I was like, man, I could look at all 11 of these and I can think of ways that like I failed in my life with these, and how like I need to improve, and how this proverb speaks directly to me, um, budgeting being one of them. Um and so, but I was able to take, you know, but I you know, I I didn't want to dive into the budget with him. I was like, I wanted to, you know, after he was sat in the sermon with me, and this is my oldest Bo, obviously. Love Bo. Yeah. Shout out Bo. Shout out Bo. But I was sitting there, you know, and I wanted to take he sat in the sermon, and it seemed like he kind of was had questions, you know. And so like the the one that I spent time on, and I don't want because the budget one stuck out to me quite a bit, but the one that I actually took time to talk with him about was the father's love. Um and and and for and Greg Us, just for those who are listening, Greg uses chapter 3, verse 11 and 12, and says, My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him who he loves, and as a father, the son, in whom he delights. Um, and and this is something that's repeated multiple times in Proverbs and Scripture in general, but especially Proverbs. Um, and and the idea is that don't get upset when people get on to you. Like if you mess up and you do something and I correct you, don't get mad because Bo is one that was, you know, especially with sports, like he'll stick his head in the mud and he'll be like, if he's having a bad game pitch in or whatever, all of a sudden it's like he shuts down, right? He just thinks like he's you know the worst thing since you know whatever. And and I and I have to remind him, like, dude, like this is a work in progress. We we gotta work through this and you gotta battle on your brain. This this year, especially in sports, like in baseball, that was my like that was basically our theme. You know, I told Bo, I was like, we've got to battle here, you know, in our brain, like in our mind, we've got to battle here because that's where you lose every single time. Um, and so that was what we worked through this year. And and I sat down with him after the sermon, I was like, when I tell you those things, when I tell you, you know, when you're around the house and you do something with your brother and I have to correct you, or if you do something that wrong and I have to correct you, it's not because I'm just mad at you or you're doing something terrible. It's because I want you to grow up to be a man of God and I want you to grow up to be, you know, a you know, a man that's capable of doing all things um through his relationship with Christ. And and and because I believe in you, I believe you can be do great things. If I didn't believe you couldn't do great things, then I wouldn't correct you, right? And that's how Christ is with us. He knows and he sees our potential, he knows what because he created us, he knows we can do, and that's why we are corrected through our mistakes, right? Um, and so I say all that. I was able to take this proverb in this pa in this sermon to to turn around and give him that same instruction. Um, and the reason why I wanted to get young people in today, obviously Maverick is gonna be here anyways, because he, you know, shout-out faithfulness. Yeah, it's in my contract. Yeah, shout-out faithfulness. No, but um, but the one I want to get Sam in here just to kind of get a younger person's perspective. Um, because a lot of these are things that I now I'm not much older. Um let me preface that here. Y'all listening. I'm not an old man.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Papa Trey.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

I'm not Papa Trey. Um I'm I'm only 34 years old, so I'm not that much older. But whenever I was growing up, I did not people I didn't learn a lot of this. There wasn't somebody uh when it comes to finances, uh, when it comes to um discipline, when it comes to a lot of, and that's what a lot of people experience today. You know, you look a lot of kids, you know, a lot of discipline happens without explanation and all of that, right? I'm not gonna get onto all that, but a lot of this happens, and that's kind of how I grew up. I didn't get a lot of instruction on on work ethic. That was probably the one that I got the most. My mom is, you've you've met my mom, that woman has more work ethic than anybody I know. She's awesome. Yeah. Um, but as far as the finances and all that stuff goes, I didn't get a whole lot of that. And so it was something that I learned the hard way. I learned what not to do by doing dumb things with my money. And now, you know, now I'm paying a lot of it back. I'm still working through it. So it is still a work in progress. And that's and literally, I that's whenever I got done talking about that. That's I got us, I sat, took a few minutes to talk to Bo about that. I'm like, dude, I'm gonna teach you a lot of stuff, finances. I want you to understand something. I'm teaching these things not because I did them right, but because I did them wrong, and I know how to do them right because I did them wrong. If you get anything out of today, I know we were kind of all over the place from AI to finances, and this we were just like scattered. But if you want uh if you're to get anything out of today, I I want you to take home that these proverbs are insights that create a solid foundation. And as you read them, you'll understand the need for budgeting. You'll understand the you'll understand the need for thinking long term, you'll understand the need for um taking reproving and being corrected by the Father and correcting your children and all those things. Like all of that are gonna be a part of who you are and create a solid foundation. Um so take these proverbs seriously, read them, um, dissect them, and they're not meant to be dissected like a normal scripture. They're they're literally simple and they're laid out that way so that we can take a scripture like iron sharpened iron and understand that, hey, I'm supposed to help somebody, I'm supposed to help Maverick, I'm supposed to help, you know, and we're supposed to grow together. Like we can literally take that scripture and run with it, right? That's what they're designed for. Um, so that's what I want you to take out today. If you haven't joined us, I encourage you to do so. We got uh the first, uh the 4th of July celebration, which is on the first coming up, um, the big 250. Uh we're gonna have an awesome celebration. Shout out America. Shout out America. We're gonna have an awesome celebration here at the church. I mean it's gonna have a huge blowout. Um, I mean the men's ministry are gonna be cooking hot dogs and hamburgers, and it's gonna be we're gonna have games, horseshoes, everything and anything. Um, so come out and join us there. And um, and then we're gonna have a cookout at the Chaffee campus on the 19th. So um if you're one of we last one went really well. We had a good turnout. Um, a lot of people brought some man the sides that were brought in that cookie cake.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

I'm telling you, hey, whoever bought the pasta salad, I need that person to return. I don't know who that was.

SPEAKER_03 33:07

Yeah, that that is a must. That is must. So if you're listening and you made the pasta salad, you're gonna have to bring that again because that's uh that's a requirement. But I appreciate everybody for listening, and we are out.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Thank you for joining us for this week's From State to Street Conversation. This podcast is the Ministry of First Baptist Church, Fort Smith. As a reminder, you can always listen to each of the messages we discussed here on our chapter and first sermon podcast each week. Thank you for listening.